Changes at Bresca

| Posted in General News

According to a report on Maine a la Carte, Bresca started serving lunch yesterday.

The new lunch menu will be “smallish,” and the chef will change it up when she gets an idea of what guests prefer, but she promises there will always be a good price point for the quality of the food. Most of the dishes on Wednesday’s menu were between $9 and $12.

That’s not all. She’s also planning to make pastries for eating in or take-out (think tarts, eclairs, etc.), and Bresca will probably start opening even earlier when that part of the plan is ready to launch. Desjarlais has floated similar plans in the past, but says she has now found “the nerve” to actually make the changes. She said she wants the new version of her restaurant to grow organically, and hopes to find her own niche in the Portland lunch scene.

Map & Menu: Best of 2012

| Posted in Reviews

Map & Menu has published a summary of their favorite meals of 2012.

Michael & I are thrilled to share the next part of our 2012 favorites with you all – the best dining experiences in our beloved Portland, Maine. This is by no means a comprehensive list of all of our local favorites, only a recap of the places that we shared with you all in the last year. Upon finishing up a meal in town we more often than not talk about how lucky we are to live in a city with such incredible culinary offerings. After reading this post, I think you’ll see what we mean!

Reviews of Veranda Asian Market & Novare Res

| Posted in Reviews

The Press Herald has published a review of Veranda Asian Market,

I decided to stick with takeout, which is prepared to order in a kitchen in the back of the store. On my first visit, I tried a plate of grilled sliced beef, jasmine rice and salad for $12.95. The beef was tender, the rice well-cooked, and the salad much tastier than I expected it to be on first glance.

and Novare Res.

There are plenty of bars in Portland that offer an extensive selection, but none quite like Novare Res Bier Cafe. The drink menu is literally a book listing 25 rotating taps, two hand pumps and more than 500 varieties of bottled beer.

Royal Rose Cocktail Syrups

| Posted in Profiles

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald has an article about Royal Rose cocktail syrups.

The result was Royal Rose (royalrosesyrups.com), a company that handcrafts simple syrups in small batches, about 30 gallons at a time, using filtered water and 100 percent organic and fair-trade sugar. There are no artificial colors or preservatives, and Butler and Butters grind and toast all the spices used in the syrups themselves.

What sets the couple’s syrups apart, in addition to the quality of the ingredients, are the unusual flavors. In addition to a simple rose syrup, they also make cardamom-clove, lavender-lemon, three chilies, strawberry-fennel and tamarind.

For more information visit the Royal Rose website.

Interview with Phil Gaven

| Posted in Farming

The Root has published an interview with Phil Gaven, owner of The Honey Exchange on Stevens Ave, about Winter hive maintenance.

I spend many hours a day giving advice to beekeepers on all manner of subjects but the one thing I try to stress more than anything is “worry less.”  Good beekeepers want to do everything we are able to do to help our bees survive.  It’s important to remember bees survived for millions of years without human help.  Admittedly, given the world we live in today most beehives can’t survive more than a year or two without human help so we do what we can, in as natural a way as possible.  With responsible stewardship, most hives will survive.  Some will die, and while that’s sad it is also the natural order of things.

Fore Street

| Posted in Profiles

The latest issue of Maine magazine includes an article about Fore Street.

At the end of the day, what makes Fore Street so different from its counterparts is an unyielding pride that employees take in their work. It’s not an environment for those who prefer to cut corners, or those who are simply order-takers in search of a paycheck. There is an expectation that everyone will always pull his or her own weight, and this provides the continual challenge that makes the job worth doing.